Royce and Chen battle in Republican-dominated 39th Congressional District

While many poll watchers say Rep. Ed Royce has little to worry about in his bid for reelection in a newly redrawn 39th Congressional District, his challenger Jay Chen is mounting a feisty battle against the incumbent.

Royce, the conservative Republican from Fullerton, carried a 36-point lead in the primary over Chen, a Democrat and Hacienda La Puente Unified School District Board Member. Royce also enjoys a 7.8 percentage point lead in registered Republican voters over registered Democrats - 39.9 percent to 32.1 percent.

But the newly drawn district includes several cities Royce has never represented, including Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Walnut, Diamond Bar and Chino Hills. The district also includes Buena Park, Fullerton and Placentia, which Royce has long represented.

Still, the district is considered "safe" for Royce and though the David and Goliath matchup is producing some fierce battles, most pundits predict Royce will win the war.

"It is very safe," said Allan Hoffenblum, a Los Angeles-based political consultant who writes the California Target Book, a look how the races will shake out on Nov. 6.

"It would be a major upset for Chen to win. He would need Republican crossover votes to do it," Hoffenblum said.

Chen's campaign has focused not on Republican voters but on winning the 23.4 percent of voters who are not affiliated with any party. This district has the 12th largest share of independent voters among the state's 53 congressional districts. He's also playing to the 17 percent of voters in the district who are Asian-American.

"Asian voters tend to register no party preference," said Chen, who is Taiwanese-American. "There is a big chunk of NPPs who will likely be voting for me."

Only Chen's own push-polls back up his claims that he's making headway. Chen says when people were asked policy questions, he comes out 7 percentage points ahead of Royce.

But it's hard to validate the accuracy of any candidate's polls. Still, the brash and talented Chen is not being ignored by the veteran Royce, who has become a favorite of the Tea Party. And Royce is also not ignoring independent and Asian voters in new areas that he's not represented before.

Last week, Royce was on the podium at the Universal City Hilton for the 101st anniversary of Taiwan, confirmed Takuay Lee, an official with the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Los Angeles. He said only members of Congress were allowed to give remarks. Chen attended the event.

Royce told the Taiwanese contingent that he would soon become chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "I will be chairman of the committee," he repeated to this newspaper during an interview Wednesday.

But Chen says that is not so certain, citing a recent Politico.com story saying the chairmanship could go to Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey. The story does not mention Royce as a contender.

"In public, he'll tell people he will be chair. But he is being completely untrue. He's just telling people he will be supportive of Taiwan," Chen said.

Chen, who speaks Mandarin and Spanish, is working hard to win the Asian vote.

He has raised $544,466 in total contributions for the general election, according to Oct. 15 filings with the Federal Election Commission. That's a fraction of the $2,437,773 in contributions reported by Royce.

However, Chen is getting financial help from a new Super PAC called America Shining based in San Francisco. Its Facebook page says it has a "particular interest in Asian American candidates."

So far, America Shining has spent about $320,000 on ads for Chen or opposing Royce, according to records kept by the FEC. The FEC lists Shaw Chen, an investment manager, as giving $565,000 to the PAC. He is Jay Chen's brother, who lists his address as that of his parents, Kelvin and Nain Chen of Hacienda Heights, according to FEC records.

In one dramatic ad, the Super PAC compares Royce to a movie monster snatching away Medicare from the elderly because of his support for the Ryan budget bill, which critics say includes a provision to turn Medicare into a voucher system.

A Royce campaign mailer shot back, tying Chen to the nation's "$16 trillion" debt and the "policies of Nancy Pelosi." One mailer references the America Shining ad as the work of a "mysterious San Francisco based Super PAC ... from ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional district" and a "smear campaign" against him.

Royce opposes the healthcare reform known as Obamacare, saying "it creates a massive new entitlement program we cannot afford."

Instead, Royce supports medical liability reforms, small business buying pools and allowing insurance companies to seek plans across state lines to increase competition.

Chen called Obamacare a step in the right direction.

Chen has blasted Royce for votes in favor of deregulation of the banking industry, policies that Chen says helped bring about the Great Recession.

"In 2007, he voted against regulation of the subprime mortgage industry," Chen said in an interview. "By 2007, we knew we were in trouble. There was far too much deregulation. He should have known to rein it in."

Royce said he is sponsoring a bill to help credit unions loan more money to small businesses by raising the cap on the percentage of their capital they can loan.

"There is $30 billion in new capital which is needed now by small business," Royce said.

Chen supports the Volcker rule to restrict banks from making speculative investments that do not benefit their customers. And he said Royce's bill does more to help his contributors - namely big credit unions - than help small credit unions.

On the topic of Iran, the two candidates found more common ground.

Royce supports the use of economic sanctions to force Iran to give up its nuclear program but says the administration's sanctions need to be strengthened. He wants to see sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran that would prevent the Iranian government from being able to cash checks in Europe.

"History shows us in South Africa and elsewhere, that sanctions can lead to change. In Burma, sanctions made them cry uncle," Royce said.

Chen agreed that economic sanctions seem to working in Iran.

Chen has dinged Royce for speaking at an anti-Islamic protest rally in Yorba Linda in February 2011. Protesters yelled "Go home. We don't want you here" and "Muhammad was a pervert" as women and children came to a fundraiser sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America Relife USA.

Royce and others said they were concerned because of two of the speakers at the event: Siraj Wahhaj, an imam from a Brooklyn mosque who was once called a co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged; and Amir Abdel Malik Ali, an Oakland imam who has spoken out in support of Hezbollah, which is described as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

According to media reports, at the rally, Royce said: "A big part of the problem we face today is that our children have been taught in schools that every idea is right, that no one should criticize others' positions no matter how odious. And what do we call that? They call it multiculturalism. And it has paralyzed too many of our fellow citizens to make the critical judgement we need to make to prosper as a society."

Later, in an e-mail, Royce called it "regrettable that some protesters at the community center yelled insults at Imam Wahhaj's supporters. Nothing should deflect from the radicalism of Wahhaj and Malik Ali."

Chen has criticized the statements.

"For an elected leader to speak out against multiculturalism and say that at this kind of a rally sets a really bad example," Chen said.

Chen ties Royce's statements on multiculturalism to the congressman's votes against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, which requires ballots be printed in languages other than English in communities with a certain percentage of non-English speakers.

Royce said he is not opposed to multi-lingual ballots, but is opposed to the federal government making it a mandate.

The two have not debated and no debates are planned. Both have been busy landing endorsements. Royce has every council member from Walnut, Diamond Bar and La Habra Heights except for Eric Ching of Walnut, who endorsed Chen, and Jack Tanaka of Diamond Bar.

Chen is endorsed by Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva and Fullerton councilman Doug Chaffee as well as fellow Hacienda La Puente Unified School District Board members Joseph Chang and Gino Kwok.